Alnwick, Dervite, Gudjohnsen, Livermore, Palacios, Parret, Townsend. The Spurs bench at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday tells its own story about the injury crisis that is currently afflicting the club. That crisis was made worse when Pavlyuchenko came off towards the end of the first half. Happily, however, his injury presented an opportunity for Eidur Gudjohnsen, which the on-loan striker took with gusto, scoring the first goal and setting up the second for Kranjcar with a clever dummy.

Thanks to their 3-1 victory over Blackburn and one point only for Man. City, Spurs maintained their hold on the fourth Champions League spot. The win was achieved comfortably enough against a Blackburn side that has an appalling record away from Ewood Park, although in truth Spurs were not required to be at their best. Gareth Bale was undoubtedly the star man on the day, and arguably Dawson and Palacios were the only other Spurs players who performed at anything like their peak.

With only eight or nine weeks left to go until the end of the league season, Spurs sit at something of a crossroads. The run-in is beginning to look tricky, with Spurs in the main facing teams with plenty to fight for, either at the foot or at the head of the table.

April is particularly daunting, with successive games against Arsenal, Chelsea and Man. Utd. Once those are out of the way, Spurs then take on Bolton and Burnley, who both could still be trying to avoid the drop as the campaign draws to a close.

On the face of it, the last week of February was a very good one for Spurs. Bolton were overcome in the FA Cup fifth round replay, while Everton - a potential rival for fourth place, who have lost only once in their last twelve league games - were beaten at White Hart Lane. Spurs once again sit in fourth, ahead of Man City on goal difference.